Middle East Monitor / July 1, 2021
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, yesterday condemned the ongoing Israeli detention of Palestinian MPs on the UN’s annual International Day of Parliamentarism, 30 June.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities have arrested more than 50 Palestinian MPs since 2006, when the movement won free and fair elections in the occupied territories.
“The detention of Palestinian MPs is a violation of international laws and conventions and gross disrespect for parliamentary immunity,” he said.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, there are twelve Palestinian MPs currently detained by Israel. Khalida Jarrar MP of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was the most recently detained, in October 2019.
The Hamas spokesman also condemned the Palestinian Authority’s disregard for the Palestinian parliament — the Legislative Council — and parliamentarians. Al-Qanou cited the ouster of the parliament by the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose own electoral mandate ended in 2009. Abbas has monopolized the Palestinian political decision-making process for the past fifteen years.
